PARIS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance against American higher education during a press conference at the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris. This event marked the unveiling of a substantial €500 million initiative aimed at attracting foreign researchers to Europe.
Von der Leyen stated, “The role of science in today’s world is questioned. The investment in fundamental, free and open research is questioned. What a gigantic miscalculation.” She emphasized that science transcends borders, gender, ethnicity, and political affiliations.
European commitment to science
Alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, she introduced the “Choose Europe for Science” initiative, which will allocate funds from 2025 to 2027 to attract top researchers globally. Macron expressed France’s commitment by announcing an additional €100 million from the France 2030 program to enhance Europe’s appeal as a “safe haven” for scientific inquiry.
“There can be no lasting democracy without free and open science,” Macron remarked.
During the event, several speakers expressed their dismay at Trump’s actions to undermine federal research funding and reported threats to cut financial support for universities like Harvard. French Minister of Higher Education Philippe Baptiste and Stanford professor Robert Proctor described these developments as a “reverse enlightenment.”
Future initiatives and goals
While von der Leyen did not directly mention Trump or American researchers, her criticisms were evident. She referenced the inspirational journey of Nobel laureate Marie Curie, who left Russian-occupied Poland for France, to highlight the importance of a supportive environment for researchers.
Macron’s criticisms were more explicit. He noted, “We must not downplay what is at stake today. No one could have imagined a few years ago that one of the world’s largest democracies would abolish research programs on the grounds that there was the word diversity in their programs.” He added that it was inconceivable for a major democracy to remove the possibility of obtaining a visa for researchers.
Von der Leyen also announced plans to introduce a “European Innovation Act” and a “Startup and Scaleup Strategy,” aimed at reducing bureaucratic obstacles and increasing access to venture capital to transform innovative scientific research into business ventures. She expressed her ambition for EU nations to allocate 3% of their gross domestic product to research by 2030.
Macron had previously launched a similar initiative named “Choose France for Science,” although it faced criticism from local researchers seeking improved salaries and working conditions to compete with their American peers. He mentioned that they have already received “several hundred” applications for the initiative.
This effort to attract top scientific talent to France follows a previous attempt by Macron during Trump’s first term, after the latter withdrew from the Paris climate agreement. The success of the “Make Our Planet Great Again” initiative remains uncertain, but Macron claimed that it helped France to “welcome the best researchers” whose work on climate science faced challenges.
Clea Caulcutt contributed to this report.